American Robin at Desert Botanical Garden

In many places Robins are a dime a dozen, but not so much here in Phoenix.  So the Garden's out-of-town guests were quite amused at seeing us Phoenicians get so excited over seeing a single male American Robin on the Monday Morning Bird Walk at Desert Botanical Garden.  He was first heard by the alert ears of a few experienced birders, then he sprang up high in a tree along the Wildflower Trail to sun himself, or maybe just to show off his handsome rufous chest.  Later on into the bird walk five American Robins were seen flying overhead.

Not to be out-done by a Robin, the female Northern Cardinal put on a nice show for us along the Plants & People Trail, swooping in and out of the drinking fountain for a few sips of water.  No lowly pond water for this diva!

Four Gilded Flickers were seen on this week's bird walk.  The prior week's walk was highlighted by the appearance of two Red-Shafted Flickers.

No Great Horned Owls were seen in the Cottonwoods, but one Hermit Thrush was seen and heard near the Owl's usual hangout.  (I opted to photograph the birders and not the bird!)

A young Greater Roadrunner joined us at the end of the walk at the Ullman Terrace to supervise our compilation of the bird walk bird list.

The Harris's Antelope Squirrel also joined us on the terrace, seemingly unconcerned over the danger of becoming the roadrunner's lunch.

If You Go:  Remember, it's Luminaria time at the Garden and there will be early closures!  The Garden will close at 4 p.m. with last admission at 3 p.m. each evening of Luminaria to prepare for the event. Early closure dates are:  December 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 – 23, 26 – 30.  The Garden will also close at 4 p.m. with last admissions at 3 p.m. on December 24, 2014.

Oriole Madness at Desert Botanical Garden!

It was absolute Oriole madness last week along the Wildflower Trail at Desert Botanical Garden! 

High up in the ironwood trees four female and two male Bullock's Orioles exercised their acrobatic skills as they foraged on the yummy blossoms from every conceivable angle.

Other birds of interest seen at the Garden last week include a Hooded Oriole, a Black-Headed Grosbeak, a Chipping Sparrow, nine Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, two migrating Warbling Vireos, and several warblers including Lucy's, MacGillivray's, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, and Wilson's. To stay up-to-date on bird sightings at Desert Botanical Garden, see Diana Herron's DBG Birdwalk Birdlists page.

Remember it's summer hours at the Desert Botanical Garden, it opens now at 7:00 a.m. through October 1st, and for members only the Garden opens at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Photos by Peggy Thomas

More Flycatcher Action at DBG!

Ash-throated Flycatcher perched high in a Palo Verde tree along the Wildflower Trail.

Too many bird-papparazi for the Flycatcher, he's outa here!

Bullock's Oriole stretching out to reach for
the best bud or bug.

 Desert Botanical Garden's Monday Morning Bird-walk started off with a bang. An Ash-throated Flycatcher made an appearance in the Wildflower Garden as well as a bright orange Bullock's Oriole.  In typical Oriole fashion, he remained high in the upper canopy of the trees, making it nearly impossible to get a clear shot.

A whole lot of nesting activity is still going on throughout the Garden.  The Verdin are very active building nests, Phainopepla are feeding their fledglings. and one of the female Roadrunner's is sitting on her nest.

REMINDER:  DBG opens at 7:00am starting May 1st, this Thursday!  It will open even earlier, for members only, on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6:00am. 

A Verdin couple deciding where to place a nice fluffy down feather in their nest.

A female Greater Roadrunner tucked tightly into her thorny nesting spot, tail-feather up!

A busy Phainopepla mom flies off in search of berries to feed her fledglings.

Look closely and you'll see a female Phainopepla
with a fresh picked berry in her beak.

A very happy bee collecting pollen in the poppies.

A Round-tailed Ground Squirrel eying all the yummy wildflowers.

Photos by Peggy Thomas

A Sticky Day at Coon Bluff

Its an odd February this year, unusually warm and in stark contrast to last year's record freeze. Many birds are making their appearance early, as if its spring.  Yet when we go to photograph these lovely gems, they are perched in a menacing tangle of twigs.  Its too early and the trees have yet to bloom.

So instead of capturing the birds out in the open as they nibble on fresh green foliage, we must fight our way through the terrible "stick people" who try to block every shot, no matter what the angle. A group of gorgeous Western Bluebirds stayed constantly out of range and only revealed their magnificent blue feathers during quick bursts of flight in and out of the twisted twiggy mesquite trees.

This beautiful male Northern Cardinal took pity on me and stepped out in the open just long enough for me to get a halfway clear shot before retreating back into obscurity.

The Phainopepla continuously mocked me by perching alluringly out in the open, yet so high up as to thwart off any closeup shots.  Are they tired of the parade of bird paparazzis who track them down at every turn and rudely point big black lenses at them?

This Black Phoebe (cleverly disguised as a Northern Rough-winged Swallow ;-) see comments) brazenly sat out in the open, taking a rest from a busy morning of dipping and diving along the river's edge, too tired to care about the paparazzi below.

Finally the resident pair of Bald Eagles at Coon Bluff stopped by and chatted away atop the cliff.  A nice ending to a rather "sticky" day at the Salt River.

Photos (mediocre at best) by Peggy Thomas

They Called Him Flicker, Flicker, Faster than Lightning...

A male Gilded Flicker swoops in to meet his "Red Shafted" Northern
Flicker mate, both flashing their differing colors. 
Taken November 13th at Papago Park ponds, Tempe, AZ, by Peggy Thomas

...under the trees, cavorting with Red and Yellow-shafted Flickers and producing hybrids just to make it even harder for us birders to tell all the Flickers apart!

Male Gilded Flicker, Papago Park, Nov. 2014

On a trip to Papago Park this fall, I noticed the above pair of Flickers frolicking high in the palm trees near the middle pond. At the time I thought it was a pair of Gilded Flickers.  Then I got home and started pouring over my photos and noticed the Red-shafted Flicker (Northern Flicker).  So I posted the photo online for others to comment on.  Here's what two of our local birding pro's, Gordon Karre and Pete Moulton, had to say:

Gordon - "Last winter I discovered a 'Red-shafted' Northern Flicker in South Mountain park that was hanging around with a Gilded Flicker and it pretty much spent the winter there. But have not seen it since, but there are several Gilded Flickers still in that same location. I was kind of watching for some hybridization, but did not find any."
 

Female "Red-shafted" Northern Flicker,
Papago Park, Nov. 2014.

Pete - "Could be a mated pair anyway, Peggy. Once upon a time (in 1973) the AOU merged the Yellow-shafted, Red-shafted, and Gilded Flickers into a single species, based on evidence of widespread interbreeding. I can vouch for the degree of interbreeding between Red and Yellow-shafteds in Colorado, and Gordon could say the same for Nebraska; but the AOU separated the Gilded back out some years ago, partly because the amount of interbreeding with Red-shafteds was less than supposed."

My photos were taken in November, not exactly breeding time for Gilded or Northern Flickers.  So it will be interesting to see in the coming months if these two are still at Papago Park and actually mate and produce hybrids.

Thank you Gordon Karre and Pete Moulton for your input :-).

Photos by Peggy Thomas

White-crowned Sparrow Sub-species

The less common White-crowned Sparrow sub-species "oriantha"
("Interior West" subspecies in Sibley guidebook)
at Gilbert Water Ranch on Nov.17th, 2013.  Photo by Peggy Thomas

The next time you're out observing our cute little harbingers of winter, the White-crowned Sparrow, take a closer look.  You might be seeing the rare subspecies "oriantha"!

When I posted these photos on a Wordless Wednesday,  two of the Valley's most experienced birders, Pete Moulton and Diana Herron, quickly pointed out that I had captured close-ups of a sub-species of White-crowned Sparrows.  According to Diana -

"The White-crowned Sparrow shown above is not the usual White-crowned Sparrow that we see here in the southwest in the winter. It is the subspecies "oriantha" which breeds at high elevations in the interior mountain west. In Arizona they breed in the San Francisco Mountains near Flagstaff and winter to the south (in Mexico and Central America I think). Our common wintering White-crowned Sparrow is the subspecies "gambelii" which breeds in Alaska in the summer. This is a great shot of an unusual bird."

The less common White-crowned Sparrow sub-species "oriantha"
at Gilbert Water Ranch on Nov.17th, 2013.  Photo by Peggy Thomas

The more common White-crowned Sparrow sub-species "gambelii"
at Desert Botanical Garden on Nov.18th, 2013.  Photo by Peggy Thomas

The difference between the two sub-species is mainly the beak and the lores.  The less common "oriantha" has dark lores and a pinkish beak, whereas the more common "gambelii" has grey lores and a yellow beak.

Thank you Pete Moulton and Diana Herron for helping me become a better birder!

Tempe Town Lake Aquatic Bird Survey 2014

Eared Grebes in their winter plumage at Tempe Town
Lake, Jan. 18th, 2014. Note the high rear end, peaked
crown above the eye, and dark on face below the eye. 
Photo by Jeff Stemshorn.

The biggest challenge this year at the Tempe Town Lake Aquatic Bird Survey was trying to tell the difference between the Eared Grebes and the Horned Grebes, both in their very un-showy winter plumage.  A pair of Horned Grebes were known to be lurking among the lake grebes this winter so the search was on.

We looked for the Horned Grebes to have a much whiter neck, no high rear end, and solid white under the line of the eye.  Eventually two grebes were spotted that stood out from the rest, one shown below. Though not easily seen, and varies with age, the Horned Grebe has ruby red eyes while the Eared Grebe has a golden eye.  The Horned Grebes were also slightly larger.

Horned Grebe at Tempe Town Lake on Jan. 18th, 2014.  Note the white neck,
and the solid white below line of eye.  Photo by Peggy Thomas

Two juvenile Brown Pelicans entertained us throughout the count as they circled above the lake searching for breakfast, occasionally making exquisitely ungraceful dives into the water.  So we nick-named one "Cannonball" and the other "Buster Brown".

Brown Pelican juvenile posing for the camera at Tempe Town Lake on Jan. 18th, during the
2014 Greater Phoenix Waterbird Census. Photo by Kimberly White-Knight

Canvasback drake with two female Ring-necked Ducks in the mini-marsh at Curry and Miller Rd.s
(NE end of TTL) just a few days before the count. No Ring-necked Ducks seen on count day.
Photo by Peggy Thomas

Me peering through the brush at Jeff "Big Bird"
Stemshorn on count day.  Photo by Big Bird

Our foray into the mini-marsh viewing area was less fruitful than years past, with no sightings of the Buffleheads, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, or Cinnamon Teal.  But a nice family of Canvasbacks were there amongst the usual Coots.

In the area between the mini-marsh and the lake there were much fewer Ruddy Ducks, and no Sandpipers or Black-necked Stilts to be seen poking around the shoreline.

We ended the day at the north side marina next to the Papago Stables, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Bald Eagle who "fishes" there.  By "fishing" I mean stealing fish from the Osprey.  The Bald Eagle was not seen, but three Osprey put on a show for us, soaring high, then suddenly diving fast into the lake.  At times they just skidded across the lake, dragging their feet along the water and eying the lake for fish feeding on bugs at the surface.

Osprey skidding across Tempe Town Lake, Jan.18th, 2014
Photo by Jeff Stemshorn

Brown Pelican searching for breakfast at Tempe
Town Lake on Jan. 18th, the 2014 Greater Phoenix
Waterbird Census. Photo by Jeff Stemshorn

Tempe Town Lake 2014

Canvasbacks 8

Gadwalls 2

Mallards14

Northern Shovelers 18

Ruddy Ducks 13

Pied-billed Grebes 3

Eared Grebes 8

Horned Grebes 2

Western Grebes 2

Neotropic Cormorants 24

Double-crested Cormorants 83

Great Blue Herons1

Snowy Egrets 8

Green Herons 1

American Coots 34
Killdeer 3
Osprey 3

Brown Pelican 2

We had a total of 18 species (24 in 2012, 2013) and a total of 229 birds counted  (629 in 2012, 174 in 2013).   Our area included the habitat just downstream from the new pedestrian bridge, the entire lake, and the small marsh area near Curry and Miller Roads.   Missing this year were the Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Buffleheads, Black-necked Stilts, Spotted Sandpipers, and Great Egrets.  New this year were the pair of Horned Grebes.  Water levels upstream of the lake were extremely low this year, with no water at all beneath the McClintock Bridge, and Tempe Marketplace Marsh nearly dry. 

Peggy Thomas and Wynn Ronstadt, with Jeff Stemshorn giving a thumbs up to the end of count day 2014.

Special thanks to Jeff Stemshorn and Wynn Ronstadt for coming up from Tucson to help with the count. Thanks also to Don Witter, Joyce Goodman, and Jackie Anderson from Desert Botanical Garden, and to my personal assistant Kimberly White-Knight.  Great job everyone!

Don and Joyce conducted the census at the very dry Tempe Marketplace Marsh. Their census count is listed below. 

Osprey soaring between Tempe Town Lake and
Tempe Marsh on Jan. 18th, 2014
Photo by Jeff Stemshorn

Tempe Marsh 2014 (2013)

Canada Geese 2 (4)
Gadwalls 2 (9)
Mallards 3 (3)
Green-winged Teal 0 (2)
Northern Shovelers 8 (68)
Lesser Scaup 0 (1)
Ruddy Ducks 30 (7)
Buffleheads 0 (1)
Common Mergansers 10 (13)
Red-breasted Mergansers 0 (2)
Pied-billed Grebes 10 (10)
Western Grebes 0 (5)
Clark's Grebes 0 (1)
Neotropic Cormorants 45 (8)
Double-crested Cormorants 94 (126)
Great Blue Herons 3 (5)
Great Egrets 3 (2)
Snowy Egrets 10 (35)
Green Herons 1 (2)
Black-crowned Night Herons 3 (1)
Sora 0 (1)
American Coots 26 (74)
Killdeer 1 (3)
Spotted Sandpipers 2 (1)
Ring-billed Gull 0 (1)
Osprey 1 (2)
Belted Kingfisher 0 (2)

Total Species : 21  (28 in 2013 and 23 in 2012)

Total individual birds counted : 280 (397 in 2013 and 659 in 2012)

These surveys are part of the Arizona Game and Fish Department's "Greater Phoenix Area Water Bird Census".  The Greater Phoenix Area Waterbird Census is held each year on the third Saturday of January.  The survey includes ducks, geese, herons, egrets, coots, cormorants and shorebirds and covers all the urban lakes, ponds (including golf course ponds), and canals throughout the greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area.

Accessible Birding at Tonto Creek

Great Blue Heron perched in a Ponderosa Pine

Not expecting to see any birds with huge wingspans flying through the dense pines, for a split-second I thought "Pterodactyl!"when the set of large wings swooshed by my head at Tonto Creek.  As reality set in I realized it was a Great Blue Heron that I had flushed from his creek-side fishing ledge.

Wheelchair accessible trail at Tonto Creek.

Tonto Creek Walk-in Campground is just off Route 260 as you leave Payson heading east toward Show Low.  It's very wheelchair friendly, with a sidewalk switch-backing its way down and ending near Tonto Creek.

Unfortunately the trail and campground are very close to the highway, so much so that the constant hum of traffic makes it hard to hear the birds or the creek.

Lower Tonto Creek Walk-in Campground with Route 260
in the background.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird at Tonto Creek,
Aug. 15, 2013.

But it still makes a nice stopping point if you are heading to the White Mountains / Woods Canyon Lake / Mogollon Rim. 

The picnic area at the bottom of the trail is a nice spot to just kick back and wait to see who shows up.  It was here that I saw the Great Blue Heron come in for a landing on the Ponderosa Pine.  American Robins will pop out of bushes and forage around the picnic tables.  Broad-tailed and Roufus Hummingbirds zip from wildflower to wildflower.  If you're really still (or possibly asleep ;-)) a few Dark-eyed Juncos will come in close.  Who named that poor bird?  I always feel like I'm making a derogatory remark when I say the name "dark-eyed junco".  It congers up visions of a strung-out derelict with dark circles under his eyes. 

The birds you may see along the Tonto Creek area include common black-hawk, osprey, great blue heron, broad-tailed hummingbird, black phoebe, American dipper, belted kingfisher, warbling vireo, American robin, Mexican jay, steller's jay, bridled titmouse, mountain chickadee, Virginia’s and MacGillivray’s warblers, black-headed grosbeak, acorn woodpecker, pygmy nuthatches, and spotted towhees.

Dark-eyed Junco, Tonto Creek.

American Robin, one of many that were
hopping around the trail and picnic area at
Tonto Creek Walk-in Campground.

On a recent trip the campgrounds along Tonto Creek were closed for the winter (open April thru October) so I wasn't able to meander down the paved trail to the creek, but the fall colors along the roadside were wonderful. 

Further up-road from the campground is the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery, which offers even greater birding habitat.  The hatchery is also wheelchair friendly with paved paths used on self-guided tours of the facility.

So if you want to check the area out this fall and winter, the day-use parking and picnic areas remain open year long, as does the fish hatchery.  I hear that its a great place to stop in the winter to romp in the snow!

In typical squirrel fashion, this guy was scavenging between the picnic area and the restrooms.  I'm not sure of the I.D. of this squirrel, seems like an Abert's Squirrel, but there are no ear tufts.  So maybe an Arizona Grey Squirrel?

If you go:  Head east out of Payson on Route 260 to Kohl's Ranch. Then turn north onto Tonto Creek Road  (Forest Rd. 289). The first parking area on the left is the Tonto Creek Walk-in Campground.  For current conditions and info call the Payson Ranger Station: (928) 474-7900.

For information regarding the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery, contact Arizona Game and Fish, Tonto Creek, (928) 478-4200, or visit their website - Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery

Photos by Peggy Thomas